Who is leading the race for 'the most impossible job on this earth'?

Who is leading the race for 'the most impossible job on this earth'?

In April 1953, Norwegian UN secretary-general Trygve Lie was at New York’s Idlewild Airport to meet his successor. "Welcome, Dag Hammarskjold, to the most impossible job on this earth," he greeted the Swedish diplomat.

Seven decades later, the UN is about to choose the successor to incumbent secretary-general Antonio Guterres, for what many regard as one of the trickiest roles on the world stage. Each term lasts five years, usually renewable for a second term.

The next holder of the post is expected to come from Latin America, given how the post rotates between continents (the last was Peru’s Javier Perez de Cuellar, who left office in 1992). There is also a long-standing, informal push for the UN to appoint a woman for the first time in its 80-year history.

Whoever wins takes on an organisation under strain from multiple directions. Washington, the UN’s biggest contributor, has cut voluntary funding and withdrawn from the World Health Organisation (WHO). Elsewhere, worsening financial pressures, and unpaid member state contributions have deepened the ongoing liquidity crisis.

Under Guterres, the UN Security Council has been unable to halt or prevent genocides in Gaza and Sudan, or Russia’s war on Ukraine. Furthermore, the US has committed what many regard as breaches of the charter, including abducting and detain

The eight candidates each have their own agenda, but common issues have emerged, including the UN being more proactive to prevent potential crises emerging; the need to be a more streamlined organisation; reducing overlapping functions; allowing smaller nations more opportunity to shake off their debt burdens; and the impact of AI and other technologies on the world.

Read our full explainer: Who is leading the race for 'the most impossible job on this earth'?